Standing at the edge
by spoodle monkey
Summary: HerryJay SLASH There's a man on the news, sitting on a ledge of a building, threatening to jump and Herry is sitting up there with him. Deals with themes of suicide, but this is not a death fic.


Disclaimer: Nope, don't own.

A/N- Wow! This is my first JayHerry in...like 3 years...wow...So, this is HerryJay slash and it deals with slight themes of suicide, but not for either of the boys...and I swear it's not depressing! There's a happy ending! But I've had this idea in my head for quite some time and I just couldn't decide who to write it for, or how to write it and it just kinda wrote itself today! I blame the rain- cause rain is awesome! So enjoy and tell me what you think! (3 years...wow...that's just ridiculous) There is no death in this fic- just a heads up.

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Jay glanced down at his watch, checking the time for the fifth time in as many minutes as he rushed down the street. He was late- _really _late. The class he was teaching for the new heroes had run later than he had intended and then Persephone had stopped him on his way out and now he was in danger of suffering Neil and Theresa's wrath.

When they had all decided to meet up once a week for lunch, just to catch up- he'd thought it would be a great idea. An easy way to keep in touch since they worked all over the city; other then Atlanta and Herry who worked at the school with him, this was essentially the only time he got to see the others on a regular basis.

And now he was in danger of missing their lunch, which would just serve to further the horrible week he had been having.

His phone began buzzing in his pocket, but he had reached their lunch spot- a small café with an outdoor patio, and ignored it knowing it was one of the others, pushing through the front door.

"Jay!" Archie waved him over.

Their group was hard to miss, with two tables pushed together and taking up the most space in the small café. The owners knew them by name and when they generally stopped by for lunch by now and their tables were always available.

He weaved through the groups of college and high school students, scanning their group, but only counting five, instead of the six he had expected. He tried not to feel too disappointed by the clear absence at the table, reminding himself that even if Herry wasn't at lunch, he'd get to see him at work later.

"Hey!" He pulled out a chair and slipped his bag off, draping it over the back. "Sorry I'm late, class went a little longer than I had expected."

He offered a sheepish smile as he sank down into the chair. They didn't have long for lunch now, before they had to get back to their own jobs but their short time together was the highlight of his week.

"Where's Herry?" Odie glanced around as though their friend could have been hiding. "I thought he'd be with you."

"I actually thought he'd be here." Jay admitted. He'd been hoping that Herry would be there. He'd been trying all week to work up the courage to ask his friend out and he'd figured that lunch with the others would have been the push he'd need.

"You mean the two of you aren't attached at the hip anymore?" Archie gasped, clutching a hand over his heart and wincing as Atlanta elbowed him in the side.

Jay glared at him, but there was no heat behind it, because Archie was right, they usually were with one another and as the others drifted to a different topic, he let his attention wander.

A television was set up in the corner, the sound muted but from what he could tell it was playing the news. The camera showed a building and something high up on the building that he couldn't make out.

"Hey, can you turn this up?" He glanced over as one of the other patrons took interest in the news cast and suddenly there was a newscaster explaining what they were seeing.

"-_has been up on the ledge for the better part of the morning now and shows no sign of coming down. Police and rescue crews are on the scene…_"

Neil said something and everyone laughed, with Theresa trying to get him in on the joke but he was still watching the news cast. The part of his brain that liked to pop up and remind him that he was a hero was yelling at him, telling him that he should be down town, helping.

"Jay," Theresa rested a hand briefly on his arm to draw his attention away from the screen. "You're a teacher now. They have it under control."

The looks on his friend's faces told him that they were all feeling the same need to be down there helping, but they'd only be in the way.

"_-it looks like someone is climbing out onto the ledge with the man; yes! There is another person now on the ledge. We'll try to get a closer look…_"

"That's crazy." Archie murmured, twisting in his seat to watch the television.

"I think it's brave." Atlanta shot back, turning her chair all the way around to get a better view.

The camera zoomed in on the ledge, high up above the street. The image was blurry at first, and then it began to clear.

"It can't be." Jay gripped the edge of his chair. His eyes were playing tricks on him.

"That's…" Neil began, mouth dropping open.

Jay was already up and out the door as the image focused and they could make out Herry seated on the ledge with the other man.

DI

Herry hadn't intended to end up seated on the ledge of a sky scraper at noon on the Thursday, but sometimes things turned out different than planned.

He had only been downtown to pick up a few things for Chiron, trying to hurry so he wouldn't be late for lunch with the others, with _Jay_ and he'd looked up and there had been a man on a ledge.

That was around the time that the 'hero' part of his brain had kicked in (as Jay liked to call it) and he'd slipped into the building and up the stairs as the emergency crews began to arrive.

It wasn't like he had walked in with a plan of any sort, his feet had just kind of led him up the stairs as the building was cleared out, and years of sneaking around monsters and gods had made it easy to slip by the police.

He hadn't really stopped to think about what he was doing before he stuck his head out of the window and looked down.

They were really high up.

"Who are you?"

Herry looked over at the middle aged man standing on the ledge, gripping the stone work in a death grip and pale as a sheet.

"I'm Herry." He studied the ledge and tried to decide if he could just drag the man back inside. Probably not. It looked like he would have to try something Jay or one of the others would do. "Who're you?"

"I-I'm Warren." Warren still looked surprised at Herry's sudden appearance and he figured he wouldn't get a better opportunity than that, so he pulled his head back inside the window, and then slipped out onto the ledge, feet first.

"What the hell are you doing?" Warren demanded, inching away. "You can't stop me! I'm going to jump!"

Herry shrugged and lowered himself down until he was seated on the ledge, feet hanging off.

"I wasn't going to stop you."

"You're…not?" Warren stared at him suspiciously, but stopped edging away.

Herry took that as a point in his favor and leaned back against the wall, folding his hands in his lap.

"Nope," he shook his head, determinedly not looking down at the crowd gathering far below. "I'm just going to keep you company for awhile."

"Why?"

Herry just shrugged again, glancing over at the other man.

"Well, I figure you must be pretty lonely or something to want to do this," he gestured with one hand at the ledge. "So, why not keep you company?"

"I'm not lonely." Warren insisted.

Herry tilted his head forwards, keeping a light grip on the stone work and tried counting the number of news crews down below. Part of him wondered what they looked like from down there. He wondered if there was anyone he knew on the street below.

"I have plenty of friends." The other man defended at Herry's silence.

"It just seems kind of weird that you'd want to leave them, then." Herry cast a quick glance at the other man out of the corner of his eye. He still wasn't close enough for Herry to grab, which was only a last resort, but he seemed more interested in arguing with him than doing anything else at the moment so maybe it was a step in the right direction.

"They wouldn't notice if I was gone." There was a bitter quality to the man's voice that made Herry wonder what had pushed him out onto the ledge in the first place.

"You should probably make some new friends then." Herry suggested.

Warren peered at him, as though waiting for Herry to make some other comment, or to lunge and try to drag him off the ledge, but Herry just continued to sit there, hands clasped, feet swinging idly over the edge.

After a moment's hesitation, the other man awkwardly shifted until he was seated on the ledge as well, just out of arms reach and still clinging to the stone, but not as tightly.

"You can't make me go in."

Herry chose not to reply.

"So, you're just going to sit here with me then?" The other man asked, and Herry could swear he sounded hopeful.

DI

Jay pushed through the crowds up to the barrier that the police had set up at the base of the building. He had been running down the street, the only thought in his mind to get to the building- to get to _Herry_, when Theresa had pulled up alongside him, the others all squished into her car and had ordered him to get in.

Now they were stuck at the bottom of the building, while Herry was up near the top and Jay was panicking.

What had he been thinking getting out on that ledge? No- Jay could answer that himself. He'd been thinking he wanted to save that mans life.

Jay hoped Herry never changed, because he honestly loved him the way he was (and wasn't that a scary thought) but if he never crawled out onto a ledge again, he'd be ecstatic.

"We can't do anything from down here." Archie glared at the crowd around them as though they were to fault.

They certainly weren't getting in the front doors- those were blocked off and it looked like they were just about ready to head up and talk to the man on the ledge- and Herry.

"We can't just wait here." A large part of Jay agreed with Atlanta, but what else could they do? All the entrances were blocked off and as much as he hated to admit it, if they all went running up there they would probably cause more harm than good.

But he knew Herry wouldn't let the man fall, and what terrified him was, if the man did choose to jump and Herry tried to stop him, would they both fall?

DI

"My ex-wife is probably watching this."

Herry glanced over at his companion. The other man was watching the news cameras below with a grimace on his face. There were a lot of cameras.

"Now I'm going to have to go through with this."

"What?" Herry held onto the hope that Warren was reconsidering jumping. He was pretty sure that he could spot Theresa's car parked down below, not many people had cherry red convertibles, which probably meant that everyone else was down there. He didn't want to make Jay worry; he worried about enough things as it was. "Why?"

"She'll think I'm a coward if I don't."

Herry didn't really know anything about ex-wives, but it sounded ridiculous.

"That doesn't make any sense." He informed him. What kind of person thought that way?

Warren shrugged, and then after a moment waved to the cameras.

"You ever been married?" Herry shook his head. "Then you wouldn't understand."

He was pretty sure that marriage didn't work that way, but he wasn't going to correct Warren. It felt like the other man was grasping at straws, trying to come up with reasons to stay up there. He could use that to his advantage.

"There are a lot of people in the city." Herry began. "So, if you're lonely or something then I'm sure you could find someone."

Warren snorted in disbelief next to him but didn't reply so Herry continued.

"Maybe the problem is the city."

"How so?" The other man finally looked up and Herry knew he was getting somewhere.

"Maybe you need to get away for awhile. Travel or something."

They fell silent again, Warren staring off into the distance and Herry trying to spot people he knew in the crowd far below. Everyone was too far away to make out though.

He wondered what could push a person this far to the point where they were willing to throw it all away, and hoped that he would never have to find out.

There was a sound from inside the room, but Warren gave no sign of hearing it. Herry craned his neck and peered inside; a police officer was standing at the entrance of the room, probably there to talk them off the ledge. Herry gave a little wave and then thumbs up before turning back around and facing outwards again.

"Police finally show up?" Warren asked, startling him.

"Uh- yeah."

The other man nodded, still staring straight ahead. Then he tilted his head slightly to the side, voice subdued when he spoke again.

"I'll go inside, but…could we just sit out here for a little while longer?"

Herry glanced over at the other man and then inside for a moment.

"Sure." He hesitated a moment and then figured he should probably just go for it and asked, "Would you like to join me and my friends for dinner tomorrow?" He didn't think the others would mind and Warren really needed it.

The other man didn't answer at first, looking confused and shocked, before a nervous smile made its way across his face. He got the feeling that whatever friends Warren had, didn't spend a lot of time with him.

"That sounds like fun."

DI

The second the doors opened, Jay was darting past the barricade and the police, dodging any attempt to stop him.

"Herry!" He all but launched himself at the other man, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and holding on tight.

"Jay?" Herry sounded startled, but after a moment, strong arms wound their way around him, pulling him closer. For the first time since the news broadcast he felt like he could breathe again.

"If you ever do that again…" Jay pulled back far enough to look the other man in the eye, then running high on adrenaline, leaned in and kissed him. It was frantic and harsh at first and nothing like the way he had allowed himself to imagine what a first kiss with Herry would be like. But Herry was kissing back, and Jay couldn't decide if it was the kiss or the overwhelming _relief_ that was making his knees weak.

Someone cleared their throat next to them and mortified he realized that this was all probably being filmed. Herry pulled back slowly, but kept a tight hold on Jay, a blinding smile on his face as brown eyes met his own and then shifted to the side.

Jay followed the gaze, spotting their friends close by and a middle aged man he didn't know, standing there looking confused.

"Oh," Herry turned pink and gestured at the man. "This is Warren. I was hanging out up on the ledge with him."

"Hello Warren." Jay laughed breathlessly, clutching the back of Herry's shirt tightly, afraid that if he let go, Herry would be back up on the ledge again. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." The other man gave a nervous smile.

Reporters were trying to get close, to interview them but the paramedics found them first and dragged them off to the privacy of the ambulances, Jay glued to Herry's side.

It wasn't until the paramedic pronounced Herry healthy, Warren seated nearby and still being looked over and they were seated in the back, doors open and blankets thrown over their shoulders that Jay was able to speak again.

"I'd ask you to never do that again, but I know that if it were to happen again, you would do the same thing."

"I'm sorry I worried you," Herry began.

"But," Jay continued, grasping Herry's hand and threading their fingers together. "It's who you are and I wouldn't have you any other way."

Herry glanced down at their entwined hands and then up at Jay, a slow grin breaking out over his face. He'd never seen a more entrancing sight.

"Yeah?"

Jay grinned, sliding closer and resting his head on Herry's shoulder, the day's events catching up to them both.

"Yeah."


End file.
